Moonlit Wishes
Book III, Part XIII

By the time Sami made it to her bathroom she thought she would throw up, her knees were wobbly from overexerting herself with the I didn't think EJ was ever going to stop runningrun she shared with him this morning.

I bet he thought I was a complete and total idiot, she thought to herself. That was awesome my ass. It's a wonder I didn't fall out on my ass. Sami looked at her image in the bathroom mirror and frowned thinking how terrible she looked, her hair falling out of her high ponytail; face flushed a bright red and sweat soaked all over.

"Ugh" she groaned as she stripped off her wet clothes and turned on the water in the shower. Maybe she'd feel better about herself after having a shower and hopefully she could get more than a handful of words out of EJ later on during the day.

EJ could hear the shower running as he passed by Samantha's bedroom, he hurried his steps instead of pausing at her doorway, knowing he should get out of this house as quickly as he could possibly go. He'd go into the office for a while, get some work done on the cases he had and surely after a couple of hours the woman he knew as Samantha would return and this other woman would be gone.

Cheerful Samantha was not the norm, scowling and wanting to fight with him Samantha was what he was more akin to dealing with in regards to her various mood swings. Even though he could argue with himself that ever since his return to Salem, Samantha had not argued with him as much as she used to do, still this agreeable woman was something of a mystery to him.

He quickly tossed his clothes in a pile on the floor of his bathroom and turned on the shower spray, opting for water as cold as he could stand. He was not going to be thinking thoughts of luring Samantha into his shower or his bedroom either. He was pretty sure she would take him up on his offer especially after last night, but he wanted more than the temporary release that sex would give them both.

After he was sufficiently clean and cooled off, he donned some dress clothes and made his way downstairs, determined to get out of the house before he had another encounter with Samantha. He just needed to stronger and he could be, he just needed to get his mind off of her.

He jotted a quick note in cause she wondered where he was going and left. He'd get some coffee on his way to the office.

Sami heard the front door closing just as she came downstairs. She sighed realizing EJ had left. She walked to the front door, resting her head on it for a moment and then headed to the kitchen seeing the slip of paper on the table.

Samantha,

Gone to work, don't know when I'll be back.

EJ

Well this wasn't one of his heartfelt missives to her, she surmised as she took the paper into her hands, tracing the words with her fingers. This was short and really not all that sweet to her. Not that his letters had been all sugary sweet to her in the first place though she knew his heart had been in those revealing letters, ones she kept in the trunk EJ had left her. She didn't want him to run away from her, not now when she was openly trying to get him to realize they could be something more than just friends.

They could be, she just knew it. She just had to convince EJ.

Moonlit Wishes
Book III, Part IX

EJ decided since he was in a hurry, he'd just go by the Brady Pub to get a coffee instead of going to the Java Café which was out of his way. The Brady Pub wasn't a place he frequented, he knew that most of Samantha's family wasn't thrilled by her choice to live in his house even more so now that he was back in town.

He doubted after their appearance together at Marlena's last night for Thanksgiving dinner it wouldn't take long for the speculation of their relationship status to be in even more question. He shouldn't of kissed Samantha in front of her family, but at the time it had seemed like the right thing to do because he knew Samantha had been about to explode seeing Nicole holding Sydney.

The weird thing was it hadn't bothered him as much to see Nicole, although he didn't like seeing Nicole holding Sydney either after all of her lies, he guessed part of it was due to that he knew in his heart he'd been over her for such a very long time. Really Nicole hadn't had much of a hold on him because he had never truly opened up enough to give her his heart.

His heart had belonged to Samantha from the first time he saw her and even after all these years it still did, even if he wasn't going to admit that to her or anyone else for that matter.

Musing over his messed up love life or lack of one, he failed to look up and see one of the people he despised most of all in Salem that was until he bumped into him soaking both of them in hot coffee.

"Son of a bitch," Rafe muttered under his breath as the liquid spilled on him realizing he was looking at the man he hated and deemed responsible for breaking he and Sami up and their subsequent divorce afterwards.

"Likewise," EJ countered flinging at his now stained dress shirt. He knew he should have just taken the extra time to go to the Java Café instead of coming here. No doubt Hernandez would still come by here, probably crying to all the Brady's who would listen how Sami had broken his heart. It wouldn't surprise him if at any moment in time if Bo or Roman came out from the back cursing him for being a DiMera or anything else they thought was going wrong in Salem or the world in general.

"I had been hoping you wouldn't show your face here," Rafe stated as he placed his now empty coffee cup on a nearby table.

"Why wouldn't I come by here? My children's family runs this establishment so why wouldn't I stop by for a cup of coffee, or to see Caroline to thank her for always being such a wonderful help with the children."

"Your children with Sami," Rafe began with a huff of disgust.

"Of course my children with Samantha, the ones you tried to convince Samantha that you would be a better father to instead of their own, but luckily she finally saw through you and kicked your sorry arse to the curb where it belonged," EJ knew he shouldn't engage this idiot into a war of words because frankly he knew Rafe wouldn't be the victor. He really didn't have a wide vocabulary.

"Good to know you've still got the bitter in check." Rafe eyed EJ with a hatred that was mirrored back to him in return.

"Glad to see you're still rocking the lumberjack look," EJ spouted off before he thought better of it. He couldn't help it though the man seriously needed a stylist, his wardrobe was atrocious.

"Well I'd rather be a honest hard working man, than a low life criminal like you DiMera," Rafe sneered in his self-righteous voice.

"Oh haven't you heard? I am working hard at a legitimate job one that I'm off to as soon as I can get a cup of coffee. I am working at Justin Kiriakis' law firm. I no longer work for my father in any shape, form or fashion."

Rafe snorted, "Wonder how long that will last? I can't believe you didn't run back to dear ol' daddy as soon as your plane landed in Salem. Are you sure you aren't doing this so called legitimate business as a ruse to get back in Sami's good graces? God knows you've fooled her enough lately. She's the laughingstock of the town running off to live in the house you bought. Isn't that kind of like being a kept woman?"

"You shut your mouth Hernandez. Whatever goes on between Samantha and I is none of your business. You just leave my family alone."

"Oh so Sami is your family now? That's rich coming from the man who lied to her, stole her baby from her…"

"At least I'm not in the habit of going around and stealing another man's family, that seems to be your status quo, not mine," EJ could feel his anger rising along with the tone of his voice which no doubt brought Caroline out from the back of the kitchen to see what the ruckus was going on in the middle of the pub.

"Break it up you two," Caroline ordered placing herself smack in the middle of the two men, using each hand to push both of them away from each other.

"He started it," Rafe claimed to which EJ just rolled his eyes in derision. Seriously the man sounded like a three year old, no that was giving three year old children a bad name. Rafe was just an imbecile plain and simple.

"Well I'm finishing it," Caroline stated ushering Rafe to the front door and opening it for him. "Good day Rafe."

"But Caroline, you know EJ is no go…" EJ couldn't hear Rafe complete his sentence since Caroline shut the door on him.

"I apologize Caroline for acting like a ruffian in your establishment," EJ offered up sincerely. He knew he shouldn't have let anything Rafe said bother him, but those wounds were deep and he'd be lying if he said he didn't hate Hernandez anymore. He doubted he would ever get over him trying to turn Samantha and his children against him.

"Well don't do it again," Caroline warned gruffly, then seeing EJ's crestfallen face she broke out into a smile. "EJ I know you don't like Rafe."

"I despise him," EJ replied to which Caroline took him by the arm and led him to a stool at the bar.

"Even so, you can't go acting like a couple of kids ready to duke it out on the playground." Caroline went around and grabbed a cloth, wetting it for EJ to dab at his dress shirt while she went to pour him a cup of coffee.

"I shouldn't have come here," EJ said after taking the proffered cloth from Caroline and tried his best to remove what would most likely stain one of his dress shirts he wore to work.

"I've wondered why you haven't stopped by before now," Caroline said more quietly as she busied herself with wiping down part of the bar.

"I wasn't sure you'd be happy to see me, especially since I supposedly wrecked Samantha's marriage to Rafe. I know how much you like him and that I'm not really a welcome sight around here or to any of your family."

Caroline stopped wiping the bar, threw the rag she was using back across her shoulder and came over to EJ offering him up a spoon for the sugar bowl along with the creamer for him to stir into his coffee.

"We may have had our share of disagreements and I've been disappointed in your actions more times than I would like to count, but EJ do you even realize how much you have helped Sami grow up and take responsibility for her life and the lives of your children?"

"I didn't do anything Caroline…"

"Don't argue with me," Caroline pointed a finger at EJ to quiet EJ from saying more to her. "I don't know what you did when you left Salem, but when you did, it changed Sami and not in a bad way either. She took charge of her life, made some tough decisions that most of her family didn't like, yet she went through with anyway. She got a job, starting putting all of her free time into being with her children and you allowing her to stay in your home with no strings attached was the catalyst to bring about this change. So for that I am thankful to you."

"You don't need to thank me," EJ said solemnly, he knew he wasn't responsible for the change in Samantha, she was doing this all on her own.

"But I do. You don't know how I prayed that Sami would be happy and find her way in life. She's always been a lost soul even in the midst of our big family. Now she has direction and purpose, something I had hoped to see before I pass away from this life into the next. Something I wish Shawn Sr. could of seen because he loved her so, Sami always tugged at his heartstrings even when he didn't understand why she did the things she did sometimes."

"I wish I understood why she does what she does sometimes," EJ replied wistfully. "She is so special, one of a kind. She's like no one I've ever met before."

"The one your heart can't forget?" Caroline asked looking EJ straight in the eye.

EJ reached out to tap Caroline on the tip of her nose, "Don't you know we DiMera's don't have a heart?"

Caroline swatted his finger away playfully. "I used to think that EJ, but maybe you're changing my mind."

EJ shook his head not believing her and reached into his pocket to extract some money to pay for his coffee, but Caroline waved him off.

"This one's on the house," Caroline patted his shoulder gently. "I'll let you pay for the next one when you come back again, which better be sooner rather than later. You are welcome here at the pub anytime EJ."

"Thank you Caroline. That means more to me than you'll ever know." EJ told her as he stood up and then turned to make his way out of the pub feeling glad he had stopped by here this morning even if he had ran into Rafe, just by talking to Caroline at least he knew she wasn't against him having some kind of part in Samantha's life.

Now if he could only figure out what kind of part he would have with Samantha it would make things so much simpler. Then again, simple and Samantha didn't ever belong together in the same sentence. At least not where he was concerned anyway.